My Updates...

Hello LJ!

How ya doin? I wanted to see how my friend @dreamspinner_ was doing so I logged in to  my LJ account after a looong time!

What's up with me? TONS!

Since I haven't updated since 2011, you probably don't know a lot of major things that have happened in my life since then. I think the last you know is that I've graduated from MBA, haha!!

2012.03 - My mom died of cancer.
2012.03 - I started a job at ACS Xerox that lasted for less than a year. MOA and Test Automation did no good for my grieving heart.
2013.01 - I started work at RealPage in Ortigas.
2013.05 - I got married to Maddy :) We lived at a condo in San Juan during this time. We acquired pet fishes and an English Bulldog.
2014.03 - We moved to Project 3, Quezon City.
2014.08 - I got a Golden Retriever.
2014.11 - I found out I'm pregnant!!!
2015.02 - I gave away my Golden Retriever
2015.07 - I gave birth to a beautiful baby girl :) Gianna Elise.
***SLEEPLESS NIGHTS*** **MOMMY CHALLENGES*** **WORKING MOM CHALLENGES** Lesson: Not everything you plan goes the way you want it to, especially if you are a mother!!
2015.12 - Spent New Year in Singapore with a 5 month old baby.
2016.02 - My dad passed away.
2016.12 - Now. I learn they want to promote me to manager - just a year after I get promoted to BA IV. Seriously? I have accepted the challenge, though.

Let's see what the future holds!!

To Do: Merge Blogs

I'm planning to merge all my LJ posts to blogger. I thought I only had a few LJ posts but I was wrong since there was a long list in the archive section. So consider this as a TO DO.

GTG. BYE.

Birit Theory

Why do Pinoys like to sing in birit style? Why do Pinoys love to sing using the karaoke? I realized that its a coping mechanism. We are hard-working, persevering people who are resilient like the bamboo. Many challenges may come in our life but we still go on and do not commit suicide on something earth-shattering, rather we hold on and survive. Our outlet for this survival is the karaoke. We need to sing, to let it out, albeit in the words of other people. Singing in birit style drowns the sound of sadness that goes through the head, one that might make you crazy if you overthink. Singing provides an avenue for us to channel our despair and thereby lessening the mental stress that sad thoughts bring to our minds and bodies.

I just listened to Taylor Swift sing Long Live.

P.S. I totally forgot about my LJ! I've been using blogger more often

Where to Now?

I had a great weekend so far hanging out with Maddy - he bought a new laptop yey! Samsung R440 Silver! It's always fun to accompany someone in buying a new gadget. :) Also, I was finally able to do 2 things that I've been putting off for a long time

1) visit the Forever 21 store at Megamall. The store is huge! There's so much clothes but I particularly liked the designs at the Heritage section. I'll go back there when I'm in a shopping mood.

2) Redeem my free shoes from Charles and Keith! Good thing there's a branch at Megamall. I was not able to get a fashionable high heeled one, but instead, I bought a sturdy but shiny silver wedge that's soo comfortable. Proof of this is that I traded my Crocs for that new shoe once I got to Linden Suites for Ann's bridal shower. The soles of my feet were aching from walking in the same flat angle, albeit in Crocs.

While waiting for the uber-fun surprise bridal shower to start, Rom was asking me what I'd do next after MBA...

I actually do not know yet. I don't have a specific direction yet because MBA just broadened my horizon that I can try on different fields. This is obvious in my job search categories. Right now though, I'm considering the Management Trainee positions at top companies. I'll have to look into them more. I'm constrained by my high salary in IT! If I win the lotto, then I wouldn't have to worry about salary and simply do whtat I enjoy doing. That would be the best thing! Unfortunately, none of the numbers I played came out in the draw. Apparently, no one else's number combination won in tonight's draw. And so the hoping continues as millions of Filipinos contribute to the grand lotto 6-55 pot.. LOL

The Ugly Truth

starring: Gerard Butler and Katherine Heigl

Well, the title says it all :-p Good thing I didn't watch this in the movie house. It's short and didn't feel move-worthy at all. It's more like a developing drama in a sitcom. Personally, I think BONES does it better wtih Booth and Brennan.

I liked the story development of Princess Diaries 2 better! Sheesh.

I remember wanting to see this very much while it was showing in the theaters (more because of Gerard Butler and the 300 hype).

I hope Zac Efron does not disappoint me the same way in Charlie St. Cloud!

If there's any consolation, the movie soundtrack rocked!

"Hot 'n' Cold" by Katy Perry
"Cafe Metropole" by Rick Krive
"Catz Meow" by Scott Robinson
"Solo Violin 2" by Daniel May
"Everybody Got Their Something" by Nikka Costa
"Pocketful of Sunshine" by Natasha Bedingfield
"Under the Covers" by Josh Kelley
"Soluna" by Los Pinguos
"De Vez en Cuando" by Los Pinguos
"El Gitano del Amor" by Latin Soul Syndicate
"Chainsaw" by Daniel Merriweather
"Right Round" by Flo Rida featuring Ke$ha

While Letting My Hair Dry...

I thought of trying my hand again at baking, but I guess it won't happen this year. School schedule is too tight to give me some free time to regain my creativity in time for joining bazaars for the holidays.

I think it's better if i spend the time to relax and think about my future.

I'm still in limbo right now because of this horrible last subject: Strategic Management. When I hopefully get a grade on my paper this coming Saturday, I'd only have a month or so to prepare for the Oral Comprehensive Examination.

When I finish that along with graduation requirements, I think that's the time i can finally breathe and think of my career path and basically what I want to do in my life.

I'm a late bloomer in the life planning department. I only started saving for real last year! Imagine that. Well, better late than never hehehe.

I am still awake coz I took a bath but my hair dryer is not working... thus, I'm air drying my hair while blogging so I can finally sleep afterwards.

Yoga again tomorrow! Yey!

Sexual attraction: the magic formula

>>>>doobidoobidoo... i knew it! I knew it! hahahah<<<<< Science validates my hypothesis!!<<<<<<<<<<

Finding your perfect match really is about the right chemistry, but it’s a complex equation, says the American scientist Martie G Haselton
From The Sunday TimesMay 28, 2006

              Selecting a mate is the most crucial decision of our lives. We spend a huge amount of time and energy trying to find that special someone. Our appetite for a relationship fuels a billion-pound industry of matchmaking services. Yet we’re often not satisfied. A 2005 survey of more than 900 people who had been using online dating services revealed that three-quarters had not found what they were looking for. We seem as much in the dark as ever about who is a suitable match.

As a scientist studying human behaviour, I am not too surprised by the mysterious nature of how we go about choosing a partner. Mate selection is a highly complex process. We are consciously aware of only part of it; the rest is either inherently unpredictable or operates outside our awareness, which leads us to the perception that love is about ineffable chemistry.

Let’s start with the conscious part. There are some things we all find attractive. Men tend to desire women with features that suggest youth and fertility, including a low waist-to-hip ratio, full lips and soft facial features. Recent studies confirm that women have strong preferences for virile male beauty — taut bodies, broad shoulders, clear skin and defined, masculine facial features, all of which may indicate sexual potency and good genes. We also know that women are attracted to men who look as if they have wealth or the ability to acquire it, and that men and women strongly value intelligence in a mate. Preferences for these qualities — beauty, brains and resources — are universal. The George Clooneys and Angelina Jolies of the world are sex symbols for predictable biological reasons.

Of course, we don’t fall in love with super-mates like these. The average person who did would be headed nowhere, because super-mates are inaccessible to all but a few. This is likely to be part of the reason why love evolved: to bond us for co-operative child-rearing, but also to assist us in choosing, so that we don’t waste time and energy falling for someone who is unattainable. Instead, people tend to fall for others who, on attractiveness, intelligence and status, are of a similar ranking to themselves.

So much for outward appearances. What about the less obvious cues of attraction? Fascinating work on genetics and mate preferences has shown that each of us will be attracted to people who possess a particular set of genes, known as the major histocompatibility complex (MHC), which plays a critical role in the ability to fight pathogens. Mates with dissimilar MHC genes produce healthier offspring with broad immune systems. And the evidence shows that we are inclined to choose people who suit us in this way: couples tend to be less similar in their MHC than if they had been paired randomly.

How do people who differ in their MHC find each other? This isn’t fully understood, but we know that smell is an important cue. People appear to literally sniff out their mates. In studies, people tend to rate the scent of T-shirts worn by others with dissimilar MHC as most attractive. This is what sexual “chemistry” is all about.

The message here is: trust your instincts — except that there is an alarming exception. For women taking hormone contraceptives, the reverse is true: they prefer men whose MHC genes are similar to their own. Thus, women on the pill risk choosing a mate who is not genetically suitable (best to smell him first and go on the pill afterwards). This is a prime example of how chemical attraction can depend on your circumstances.

Here’s another example: attraction can fluctuate over the menstrual cycle. Men evaluate women’s scents as more attractive when they are near ovulation, and in our studies at UCLA, we have found that men are more loving towards their partners as ovulation approaches. Women’s preferences for certain male scents and other male features change over their cycle. Near ovulation, they prefer masculine traits; at other phases of their cycle they prefer less sexiness and more stability. All this suggests that the path to love can be somewhat random, particularly for women.

Having sex can also complicate the way you perceive a potential partner. After sex, the brain releases oxytocin, which results in the warm, companionable feeling of love and the creation of the social bonds that facilitate co-operative child-rearing. Watch out: sex on a whim can lead to feelings of love for a person who is entirely wrong for you.

Sex, of course, is not love. For scientists, love is a conundrum: strictly speaking, sexual desire takes care of reproduction, so what could be the purpose of love, especially since it makes us believe we have found our one true soul mate in a world filled with billions of alternatives? How would our ancestors have been served by such behaviour? One possibility is that feelings of love act as a “stop rule” that terminates the search for a mate, even if only temporarily, so we commit to one person and get on with the business of mating.

But that still poses the question, if the roads to love are so varied and random, how do we decide on a particular mate? It turns out that the problem of choice under uncertainty can be described and solved mathematically. Evolutionary psychologists Peter Todd at Indiana University and Geoffrey Miller at the University of New Mexico used a computer simulation to determine how a person might best choose from a number of potential partners. They set it up so that the person first assesses a number of the options available to them to decide what is the best they can aspire to in terms of attractiveness. They then go for the next person they come across who meets their aspirations, out of those they haven’t already encountered.

The researchers found that the optimum proportion of possible mates to “examine” before setting your aspirations and making your choice is a mere 9% — so at a party with 100 possible mates, it’s best to study only the first nine you randomly encounter before you choose. Examining fewer means you won’t have enough information to make a good choice, examining more makes it likely you’ll pass the best mate by. No doubt the models underestimate the complexity of real mate choice, but the fundamental insight is clear: don’t search indefinitely before choosing, lest you miss out on all the good mates or run out of time altogether.

Who we fall for is determined by a mix of factors, some of which we are aware of, some of which we experience indirectly. Happenstance can play a significant role, especially if we meet someone just after calibrating our aspirations, or at a particular stage of the hormonal cycle. There may be that special someone out there — but they’re not necessarily the only one.

This article first appeared in New Scientist

WHEN THE CHEMISTRY IS WRONG

Guy Taylor is a 32-year-old graphic designer who lives in south London

“I met this girl, let’s call her Becca, in a random bar in Clapham one Wednesday evening. I was with a group of mates and we just got talking. I was a bit tipsy, but I definitely fancied her — she was just my type — so I suggested we hook up. When she left, I gave her a gentle peck on the cheek.

The following Sunday, we met up for lunch at Inn the Park in St James’s Park. I was excited, as I felt the date had potential. The banter was good, and everything was cool, but at the back of my mind, I was thinking, “hang on a minute”. Something wasn’t quite right — we were less flirty with each other than when we first met.

Nevertheless, Becca and I spent the next few hours wandering around town chasing after the wooden Sultan’s Elephant. It was a laugh, and we were happy to spend time in each other’s company. We both had stuff to do, but neither of us wanted the date to end, so there must have been some sort of connection. We went to the cinema to see V for Vendetta. Everything was going well, with hand-holding and snuggling-up together. When we left, we had a kiss. That was the killer. It wasn’t a passionate full-on snog, more going through the motions.

There was something missing — that special feeling I should have felt just wasn’t there. We fancied each other, but the spark was missing — I guess the chemistry was wrong. You can’t fake that.

Being a gentleman, I thought it would be a little harsh to just blow her out — I mean, in theory it should have worked — so I left a voicemail asking her to see me the following Wednesday. She sent me a text back, saying: ‘For me, there was no spark.’ I thought: ‘You see? It wasn’t just me.’ ”

Reproduced by kind permission of www.newscientist.com

 Copyright 2009 Times Newspapers Ltd.

Heart on Sleeve

Can I just say that I WILL FREAKIN' MISS *******!!!

We've been spending soooo much time this week!! As in almost everryyyy single dayyyy...

....since I'm helping him with his Opman paper....

....since this is the last week until Aldrich arrives....

....since we might not be able to meet for 3 whole weeks...

but we might be able to meet on the last week of August since Aldrich is in the province and I need help with Finman finals....

and I should not get too attached even if it's so hard not to... hayyy

what is this that I've gotten myself into.. but you know... sabi ko nga.. I'd rather experience the hurt + happiness than not experience anything with him at all

I dunno why i so freakin' love him.. but i do, i do, i do. I just do.. hheheh

Random thoughts while I'm doing the paper

I am so looking forward to tomorrow which also makes me anxious about tonight because I need to finish a huge amount of the opman paper in order to enjoy the day tomorrow. I must I must! Because I know that I'm gonna miss him for the x number of weeks, so so gonna miss his company. IS this Blind Love? I get hurt, I cry, I vow to be stronger, sometimes i think of running away but I remind myself that these are battlescars and I should be proud of them.

Then he does something endearing and I smile and all the hurt and pain is forgotten. I like the feeling actually.. maybe it's like a 'sick cycle carousel' but I feel more alive! I feel true to myself.. this is how I've always been when I'm in love with someone. i feel crazy but I feel alive, so much more than ever.

and I dunno how I'm gonna pull of the transition successfully! I cannot multitask guys! My heart is only comprised of 100% and so the only way is to share. Sheesh.

Hanging by a Moment

Desperate for changing
Starving for truth
I'm closer to where I started
Chasing after you
I'm falling even more in love with you
Letting go of all I've held onto
I'm standing here until you make me move
I'm hanging by a moment here with you

Forgetting all I'm lacking
Completely incomplete
I'll take your invitation
You take all of me now...

I'm falling even more in love with you
Letting go of all I've held onto
I'm standing here until you make me move
I'm hanging by a moment here with you
I'm living for the only thing I know
I'm running and not quite sure where to go
And I don't know what I'm diving into
Just hanging by a moment here with you

There's nothing else to lose
There's nothing else to find
There's nothing in the world
That can change my mind
There is nothing else
There is nothing else
There is nothing else

Desperate for changing
Starving for truth
I'm closer to where I started
Chasing after you....

I'm falling even more in love with you
Letting go of all I've held onto
I'm standing here until you make me move
I'm hanging by a moment here with you
I'm living for the only thing I know
I'm running and not quite sure where to go
And I don't know what I'm diving into
Just hanging by a moment here with you

Just hanging by a moment (here with you)
Hanging by a moment (here with you)
Hanging by a moment here with you

Dance...

"Dance like nobody's watching; love like you've never been hurt.
Sing like nobody's listening; live like it's heaven on earth." -
  --  Mark Twain




 

• Current Location:condo
• Current Mood:  thoughtful

stupid love/crush

You gotta dance like you've never danced before, you gotta love like you'll never get hurt

- yeah. stupid diba? Pero stupid ako eh, so ganun pa rin ginawa ko. ano baaaa. hayy. argh!

i hate it when i get hurt because im enamored by a person too much. I try to give that person everything.. make things convenient for him. Pretend that its nothing to me. But no.. it's something to me.

2 hours offset. alam mo ba kung magkano un? Ni ndi mo nga ako nililibre at all eh.

Pinagisipan ko pa kung gagawin ko un eh, pero nsabi ko na diba. Ewan ko bakit ba ang tanga tanga kooooo.

So what am i gonna do about it?

Am i gonna text him in the morning and tell him na hindi na tuloy at hindi ko na iffund ung internet activities nya??

Im so stupid. Can I just say that again.

Pero knowing stupid me baka ituloy ko pa rin. I'm not the type that goes on with speculation . Pero tingna mo 12:36 na. Gigising ka pa ng uber aga. 6am.

Ay nako bahala na. Ill react when he texts me. grrrr stupid i hate myself!!!

aygswtowlyoaygbttoyl?

Sabi ko nga eh swtowly eh. Wala kang problema, ndi ka masasaktan. Pero bakit ba laging gustong gbttoyl diba? Nagpapakatanga ka na e pero ibang direction naman ung tingin nya eh. Ndi naman sayo eh kasi malamang dun din say sa ttohl diba. Hay ganun tlga ata eh. story of my life. buti nga i got this one right eh tatanga tanga pa ako  naisipan ko pang bttoil. I'm so stupid. Buti talga namulatan ako agad.

Feeling Uneasy....

This could be due to the fear of numbers... maybe i need this book... queasy stomach from worrying about my FInMan class. Even crossed my mind that maybe MBA is not for me... that's how intense the anxiety is.. makes me want to run away but luckily my mind is not yet completely overpowered by emotion. Running away is not an option actually because there are other people, i.e my groupmates who will be affected. All in all, when I look back I'll snort and say that my fears right now are so petty. But that's how it is when you're anxious, you make mountains out of mole hills....

• Current Mood:  anxious
• Current Music:Lifehouse - Hanging By A Moment

Coping Mechanism

Came up with this out of nowwhere...since I was feeling numb about the sudden location change of my Finman Class!

   

♫ ♪ For all those things

♫ ♪ That we don't understand

Bakit ung FinMan class ko sa LSGH na 8am on Saturdays e na move pa to RCBC Campus?? Permanent na ba to?? Sa SAN JUAN ako nakatira!! 10 mins lang papunta sa school kaya parang okay lang na 8am pero eto magiging Makati na !?? 9am nga ako dumadating sa office pag Weekdays e!!

♫ ♪ We come by faith

♫ ♪ And we place them in your hands

Chorus:

♫ ♪  We give thanks

♫ ♪  We give praise

♫ ♪  For we know, that all things work together, for our good

Well its a training for me to wake up early.. to not sleep late.. to prepare.. to accept that things don’t always go as I want it.. it's a way for me to become more adjustable to change....

♫ ♪  We give thanks

♫ ♪ We give praise

♫ ♪  For by faith, we know your grace, will see us through

Definitely on my own strength and volition, I cannot wake up early. I am not a morning person. But nothing is impossible with God, so help me…. For me to be able to survive Math + Saturday mornings – definitely all GOD!

• Current Mood:  numb
• Current Music:Ray Lamontagne - Trouble (A Lot like Love OST)

oh my!

Oh my.. joined the davidcookai7 community and is now seeing a lot of watch-worthy material!!!

Links

Lest I forget...

Laughter & prejudice in 'Arlegui' book | The Philippine Star >> Lifestyle Features >> Sunday Life

Here's another one...

Milflores Online: LATEST MILFLORES RELEASE

ala BONES!!

Canada geese confirmed as culprit in US Airways crash-landing - Los Angeles Times

Jun. 6th, 2009

Very interesting! From chowing down cheeseburgers to healthy food! Well, I think the Declaration Tour's not able to give him enough time to work out :p Doesn't matter though, DC's loved any which shape he's in :p

David Cook - Men's Fitness

So Far, So Good

It's been 2 days since I've been studying for my upcoming ISTQB certification exam..so far so good. I came home late tonight coz I had my regular Wednesday church group meeting. I'm actually not sure if i'll be able to reach my 2 hour quota today; there is a high probabality that I would not so I'd just make up for it in the next days....

It's been such a busy month at work but I'm still glad that I'm able to insert some relaxing and exciting events in my schedule - such as Tagaytay trip with college friends, Linden suites with family, David Cook concert with Accenture friends and 2 movies with dreamspinner_ - Wolverine and Angels & Demons!!!

We were advised that we might have work again this weekend - to think that my MBA classes are gonna start this Saturday!. Well, at least I only took 1 class except that I have to wake up early on a Saturday and be at school by 8 freaking am!!! I am not a morning person, so good luck to me!

I suddenly remembered that I actually dreamnt of David Cook last night! It was awesome! In my dream, he came back to Manila and will be having a limited seats concert this Saturday! Of course, this time around, I was scrambling to get front row seats :p

Based from the YouTube videos that I've been watching, it seems that American fans are a more engaging concert audience. They really know the lyrics and sing-along and I guess the venues are smaller so those who go are really solid fans of the artist. Another thing is that not everyone is holding a video camera and recording the event. They are more intent in experiencing the event as it is transpiring than recording it for posterity. I think the former is the better option of the two.

Having said that, I just wish that I'd be able to watch a David Cook concert in the future. The how and when cannot be determined as of the moment, so my desire would have to do. (Doesn't working for ASCAP in which David is a member of have some bearing??)

We have a project portal where we can put our avatar / picture so it shows up beside the messages or comments we post on work related discussions. I changed my picture a while ago to David Cook's! Maybe someone will notice and introduce us! harhar :p